Hand Of The Day #73

Grand Sierra - 05.09.11 - 6:30pm $60 Tournament Level 1 (25/50)

This is the fourth hand of the tournament, and our table has seven players. I haven't played a hand yet, so I still have my starting stack of 4000 chips.

UTG raised to 150. Only the SB called. I'm the BB, and look down at Js Jc. I decided to just call. You could certainly make an argument for raising to 500 or so. I don't know anything about these players, but I'm assuming that if they called or raised the 150, then they'll call the 500. I would then be playing a bloated pot out of position. Since this is the first level of the tournament, I would rather keep the pot small preflop. If more players had called the 150, the I would have 3-Bet to thin the field.

Three players see a Flop of Jd Td 4h. The SB, a 50's Asian gentleman who's been talking to his wife during this hand, grabs a few stacks of different chips and bets around 3000 into the 450 pot. I'm not sure exactly sure how much it was because I had Top Set and I didn't care. I went All-In for 3850. UTG, the original raiser, looks at his cards and flashes them to the other players. Meanwhile, the SB had already put the rest of his chips into the pot before the UTG finally folded his 99.

I show my JJ, and the SB show Kc Qd for an Open-Ended Straight Draw and Two Overcards. I'm sure you can guess how the rest of the hand goes. An Ace on the Turn gives him the Broadway Straight, and I miss my Boat Draw on the River. The SB has me covered, and I'm out of the tournament.

I bring you this hand as a great example of what I've been saying about these small daily tournaments. They are profitable because I get to play against players like him. But they are also high variance because of players like him.

Nice Hand, Sir.